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IHA’s blog features informative posts written to keep the housewares industry educated and informed about key strategic issues and IHA member services.

2017 gia Global Honoree – Potten & Pannen – Staněk

Michelle Hespe catches up with one of the five 2017 gia global honorees, Pavel Staněk—Co-founder and President of the highly innovative Potten & Pannen – Staněk in the Czech Republic. The gia Global Honoree award-winning Potten & Pannen store is a KitchenAid concept store and a gourmet cooking academy based in the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague. “Our grounding…

Cuba: Immediate Challenges & Long-Term Opportunities

IHA Staff conducted a recent market visit to Havana, Cuba to assess the market potential of this relatively closed and unknown market. Due to the lifting of certain restrictions by U.S. citizens to visit Cuba, more and more Americans are beginning to visit this nearby country, and there is the potential in the coming years that U.S. housewares companies will be able to…

Export 101: Understanding Market Selection

When choosing to sell internationally, market selection is an important but potentially daunting task. There are approximately 194 countries around the globe, and selecting where to begin exporting can have a significant impact on finances and long term success. Often, suppliers begin as an “accidental exporter”, selling to those customers and countries who proactively…

April Currency Outlook

In their April 2017 Currency Outlook report, Tempus, an exchange rate and global payments company, provides a detailed report including the following topics and sections: In Brief Stock markets declined, including a 3% Down Jones fall Record turnout in the Dutch election revealed Mark Rutte as the victor over Geert Wilders Brexit started March 29, beginning a…

MercadoLibre: Latin America’s Largest Online Retailer

As a preview to their presentation during the upcoming IBC Global Forum, the following is a brief on MercadoLibre, the leading Latin American e-commerce retailer. MercadoLibre was established in August 1999 in Argentina and rapidly expanded to Brazil (as MercadoLivre.com), Mexico and other South American countries. It is the largest e-commerce retailer in Latin America,…

Farcent Enterprise: Taiwan Brand Agent and Distributor

Farcent Enterprise Co. is seeking IHA member brands for brand agency representation or strategic partnerships in Taiwan. Farcent Enterprise Co., Ltd was founded in 1983, with over 33 years of experience in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry. Farcent is a publicly listed company on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. (TWSE) listed as 1730.TW. It is a major household…

Incorporating Technology Into Your Independent Homewares Retail Mix

Technology is no longer isolated to tech-heads and gadget nerds. There are a large range of products that integrate technology into your décor, going by the category name - fashtronics . These design-focused objects integrate technology for function – not for technology’s sake. Fashtronics is a growing category in home décor. Examples of this fashtronics trend include…

The Many Benefits of Joining CORE

CORE (Chief Officers Reaching Excellence), IHA’s executive share groups, are nearing their 20th anniversary. These quarterly, professionally facilitated group meetings have been a draw for IHA member companies of all sizes and give senior level executives an opportunity to both share their wisdom and experience and to solicit the advice of their peers. So many of the issues…

Global Retail Intelligence – April

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: April 28 – Soriana (Mexico) See Solid Growth in Q1 Soriana presented positive results during the first quarter of 2017. Its revenues were 35,248 million pesos, equivalent to a growth of 1.3% compared to the same period in 2016 when it had revenues of 34.793 million pesos. This increase was driven mainly by…